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Monday, May 5, 2008 12:00 AM

Politician fights for women's pleasure

But contrary to reports, she isn't trying to "decree orgasm by law."

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  • Tuesday, May 6, 2008 02:32 PM

    @ chiefpayne

    No. The divorce amounts are also specified in the kesuba.

    When the rabbis instituted the kesuba it was a means of allowing men with lower incomes to marry. The kesuba requires a husband to provide, roughly, enough to support his wife for one year in the event of a divorce. It was a way of allowing young men, essentially, to marry without paying the bride price. Both the bride price (which always belongs to her, and which she can take back after their marriage) and divorce allotment were ways of ensuring that a wife would be able to feed herself in the event of a divorce. The kesuba also requires similar support for a widow, and the widow's portion must be paid before the rest of the estate is settled. All of these guarded single women against poverty, something which was nearly inevitable for a widowed or divorced woman without the support of a husband or father in Ancient Israel.

    The traditional kesuba requires a husband to give his wife 200 zus (a Talmudic unit of currency) in the event of a divorce. The rabbis calculated this to be the amount needed to support oneself for a year. This text is still largely held to by Orthodox Jews, though sometimes the amount is changed.

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